An integrated circuit (IC) card electronic apparatus is a type of equipment in which information is electrically transferred between circuitry on the electronic apparatus and an IC circuit in a card with desired functions or programs, which card is inserted into a card receptacle slot of the apparatus. The apparatus is common in mobile phones, personal computers, hand-held computers, hand-held media devices, game machines and other electronic equipment.
An IC card consists of a compact, thin, inflexible card body, typically about 0.8-2.0 mm thick. An IC chip (integrated circuit device) having the desired functions is built into such a rigid or semi-rigid card body made of plastic or reinforced cardboard, and numerous contacts (i.e. connecting terminals) are arranged along an edge on the surface of the card.
An IC card may be inserted into the card receiving slot on the electronic equipment, with the card edge having the contacts oriented toward the card receiving slot and with the card face, on which the contacts are arranged, oriented toward the operator, until the card edge abuts the bottom of the connector slot. Thus, the contacts come into full contact with the corresponding contact springs of the slot, so that the IC circuit on the card is electrically interconnected to the control circuit on the electronic equipment to allow information to be transferred between them. Contact springs in card readers have a shape where the end of the spring is bent first up, then down. Therefore, the connector structure is much thicker than the card.